Living the Dream in NYC

New York City... There has been no other place that we’ve been to which has carried such anticipation and exception as we arrived.  As our plane arrived into JFK airport from Iceland, we both couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces. We were in America! The land of the free and the home of the brave. Since becoming a bartender, it has been my dream to one day visit New York City and drink in some of the great bars of the world.  Cara and I quickly gathered our bags and jumped on board the NYC metro train and headed  for Union Square, located in the lower east side of Manhattan.  Throughout our travels, Cara and I have tended to stray away from the cab option when travelling from airports to city centres. We find that catching public transport gives you a better feel for how the locals live. Our first train ride in America will be a memorable one. Mid-way through the trip, a couple of dances jumped on and began to give the commuters a break dancing show. We’d seen buskers in trains in Italy and France, but this was something else. Using the trains handles and poles to perform flips and other break dancing tricks, running up and down the carriage as the train was moving. It was quite a good show and a great introduction to life and culture in America. 

We made it to our hotel on 17th Street, dumped our bags and headed across the street to a bar for frosty cold beer and classic New York style pizza.  I ordered a pint of “Blue Moon” Beer, this popular NYC beer, is a Belgium style beer which is brewed in Colorado. Blue Moon is produced by the MillerCorrs Company, one of the biggest brewing companies in America. MillerCorrs are most commonly known for the Miller Genuine Draft range along with Corrs lite (2 of the most popular beers in America). Both the Miller and the Corrs and very light in colour and are made in more of a lager style, so the inspiration behind the Blue Moon was to create a European style beer which was more similar to an ale. This unique beer has proved to be successful as I noticed throughout our time in New York, that almost every bar had the Blue Moon on tap.  After a our beer and pizza, the time was 11pm, but with the time difference from Iceland,  our body clock was telling us it was about 4am. So we got back to our hotel and hit the hay. We needed sleep as the next few days were going to be busy. 

There are so many places to visit in New York City, where do you start? Cara and I had no idea what to do first. If you had to see only one thing in New York, what would it be? After some debate, we agreed that the Statue of Liberty would be the top of the list. So we set out and made our way to the lower west side of Manhattan Island. On our way to the Statue of Liberty, we had the opportunity to visit "Ground Zero”, the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. No words can describe the feeling when visiting the World Trade Centre site. Cara and I felt many emotions during our visit. Obviously great sadness for the victims, but we also had much admiration for the people in New York. These locals have turned this tragedy and have used it to pull together and support each other and build a community spirit which can never be broken.  

Once leaving Ground Zero, we were only a short walk from the Staten Island ferry. This free ferry service, takes you from Manhattan Island, right past the Statue of Liberty, to Staten Island. Its the best and cheapest way to see the Statue up close. Once we cruised to Staten Island and back, taking many photos along the way, it was time for lunch.  As we went in search of the typical NYC diner, we suddenly found ourselves standing on Wall St, out the front of the New York City stock exchange. After more picture taking, we found a diner, and had another regular meal in a New Yorkers diet, a classic Hot Dog.  

We began to make our way back to our hotel to freshen up, as we had a big night planned. We were heading to Times Square and also popping into B.B. Kings Jazz Bar to see the band “Atlantic Star”.  As we made our way up 5th Ave, we decided to stop off in a local tavern, not for a cocktail, but for a simple rum and coke, just to get a feel for what your standard New York “watering hole” was like. We struck up a conversation with the bartender who was happy to explain to us the "do’s" and “dont’s" for tourists in NYC. A “do” was to tip well and you’ll get “hooked-up” by the bartender, by over pouring your next drink, tip poorly, and you might as well just purchase a coke, because you won’t have much rum in you glass next time you order. Another “don’t” was not to take a horse and carriage ride through central park. New yorkers see that as a bit of a joke. If you want to see Central park, walk it, or hire a bike. So we took that advise on board as our next day was going to be spent in the park.  We finally made it to Times Square and did what thousands of other tourists were doing and thats take as many photos as we could and try not to get hassled by buskers or people dressed up as movie characters trying to get you to have your picture taken with them.  This place was packed, and it was just your usual saturday night. You could only imagine what it would be like for the famous “ball-drop” on new years eve.

After an amazing night out at B.B King’s and Times Square, we needed to return to our hotel. We had another busy following day ahead.  I could go on and describe every single little thing we did during our time in New York, but it would go on forever. To summerise, The next day was spent entirely in Central park, with dinner later that night spent around the lower east side of Manhattan. The following day was jam packed with us conquering the Empire State building and going to the Ed Sullivan Theatre for a taping of the “Dave Letterman Show”, then going to some of the top drinking spots the city had to offer.

When it comes to cocktail bars in various cities we visit, It’s usually me, who does the bar research and Cara is the one who gets dragged around to the many amazing bars we’ve drunk at. But this time, Cara suggested a bar that we must visit as it was featured in “Sex and the City”, one of her favourite shows. So I was more than happy to visit a bar which i’d never heard of before but is apparently well known to many locals. It was a place called “The Monkey Bar”, a short walk past Madison Ave on 54th Street.  This bar was definitely not a touristy bar. Filled with business men and women who had just finished work. It was quite intimidating for Cara and I as we walked through the door. We didn’t let this bother as too much as we pulled up a stool at the bar and ordered our drinks. I ordered a cocktail called a “No Problemo”. I martini style drink which consisted of Reposado tequila, Celery bitters, lime juice, an egg white and Licor 43 (a bright yellow Spanish liqueur, which has a strong vanilla and herbal flavour). Cara ordered a drink called “Mule Variations”. This was exactly what the name said, it was a variation on a classic Moscow Mule. It was made up of aged rum, fresh pressed ginger juice, lime juice and spiced walnut liqueur. Both our drinks were nice and well balanced. After two years of travelling the world drinking cocktails, it now takes a lot to impress Cara and I, So despite our drinks being very nice and well balanced, they didn’t exactly rate up there with the best drinks we’ve ever had. But that didn’t matter though. We were sitting in a swanky NYC bar, absolutely loving life and it gave us a chance to stop for a second and reflect on the past few busy days in the city the never sleeps.

We had one more day left in New York, so we decided to head out of Manhattan and visit Queens. After spending a gorgeous afternoon in Flushing Meadows Park we had one last thing to do in Manhattan. I mentioned earlier about the classic New York hot dog which we had at a local diner, and as delicious as the diner hot dog was, no visit to NYC is complete without a visit to “Grays Papaya” probably one of the most famous chain of hot dog stores in the world. So just before we returned to our hotel for the last time, we made a stop off at Grays Pappaya, just near 17th street.  It was our last night in New York and it has been a visit we will never forget. We tried not to get to upset about leaving, we still had much left in America to see. As we chowed down on our “Papaya” hot dogs we looked ahead to our next stop... Philadelphia.

“No Problemo”

In a Shaker,

45ml Reposado Tequila

15ml Licor 43

A dash of Celery Bitters

30ml Lime Juice

1 x Egg White

Shake and double strain into a Martini Glass

“Mule Variations”

In a Shaker:

60ml Aged Rum

30ml Lime Juice

5ml Ginger juice

15ml Walnut Liqueur

Shake and strain over ice in a short glass

The Amazing New York City, Looking out from the top of the Empire State Building.

A Night in Liverpool

Well... What can I say about the city of Liverpool? As we arrived, We instantly noticed the typical ’Scouse’ traits. The girls dressed up with fake tan and big hair, the blokes with trendy designer labels and flawlessly styled hair. Aside from the fashion, Liverpool is famous for being the home to pop music in the UK. It was labelled by the Guinness World Records Book as being the “World Capital City of Pop". Which is understandable, the city is the birth place to bands and musicians like The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, along with many others. 

Liverpool is also known to have the best nightlife in the UK, better than rival cities, London and Manchester. So Cara and I were excited to head out and see what made Liverpool’s nightlife so great. We spent the day exploring the city, visiting places like the famous Liverpool Cathedral, the Merseyside docks and of course a walk past the “Cavern Club”, home of the Beatles. We returned to our hotel and quickly got ready to hit the town at night.  We noticed that Liverpool has a huge nightclub scene. Along with the clubs, there are also many pubs (which is a standard feature in cities throughout the UK), there seemed to be a lack of high end quality cocktail bars. However, there was one place, that all the guides and reviews online mentioned was a must see bar. This place is called “Alma de Cuba”. This was a bar which had been built inside an old cathedral. It has been said to be one of the best looking bars in the UK. As we made our way through the Cathedral’s front doors, we saw the bar, which was positioned in the centre of the building (where the aisle of the would usually be). On one side of this island style bar was a more relaxed lounge type set up. Whereas the other side of the bar was designed to be more of a stand up area, with a couple of high tables and small booths running along the churches wall.  The far end of the cathedral was a small stage where a jazz band was about to start playing. As Cara and I took found a seat in one of the booths, we were amazed by the “mish-mash” decor. Many elements of the old existing church still remained, but there was now added features such as palm trees, along with other cuban influenced details. The menu was also a combination of Cuban flair with a religious twist. The first page of the menu was a ‘tongue in cheek’ version of the 10 commandments starting with “Love thy neighbour...they may be drunk”.

When Cara and I sit down at bars, we tend to look around the room and see what other people are drinking. It’s usually a mixture of beers, wines, mixed spirits and cocktails, but at Alma de Cuba, almost everyone was holding a cocktail. This could only mean one thing... Their cocktails were good. Cara kicked it off with ordering an Alma original, a drink called a “Kingston Crush”. This tiki inspired cocktail consisted of Appleton Estate VX rum, muddled pieces of watermelon, pineapple juice, lime juice and frozen chunks of grapefruit, shaken and strained over crushed ice. It was lastly topped up with ginger beer. These types of cocktails can be dangerous. Not in the sense that it’s high in alcohol, but dangerous because it’s not. This drink was fruity, refreshing and very tasty. You could hardly taste the rum. It’s a drink that you could have half a dozen very easily. But the rum was not going to ly down with out a fight. If you were to down six of these fruity concoctions, it would hit you hard. It’s hard to go wrong with this mixture of watermelon, pineapple and lime, they are always popular ingredients.  But the use of grapefruit and the fizzing finish of ginger, makes this drink a little different then your standard tiki cocktail. It was perfect for Cara. A nice fruity, refreshing cocktail, one which would quench the thirst after an afternoon exploring Liverpool.

I decided to consult the bartender and ask him to make me his signature drink. When a bartender is asked to make their own creations, you can guarantee that little extra bit of love, care and attention will  be put into that drink. His creation was a cocktail called “Mrs Jones’s Breakfast”, a drink which was inspired by his mother. The bartender explained to me that when his mum made him breakfast throughout his childhood, she’d serve up cereal covered in pieces of grapefruit and apricots and sprinkled with sugar on top. He recreated this meal in the form of a drink by starting with Aperol,   followed by Elderflower liqueur, Caradores Blanco (Tequila), a dash of grapefruit juice and lemon juice. It was all shaken together with ice and strained over into a sugar rimmed glass. It was a simple concoction but one which was well thought through and well executed. Each ingredient complemented the other nicely. It wasn’t to sweet, or sour, or bitter.  Even the non-tequila drinkers would love this cocktail. I thanked the bartender for sharing his story. A cocktail seems to always taste better when it has a story and not just thrown together randomly.

As we made our way back to our hotel, we could see the surrounding nightclubs were getting into full swing. We were both glad we got the chance to visit Liverpool, even if it was only for a short time. We had an early start to the next day, as we were returning to a place, which now feels like our second home. We were going back to London.






“Kingston Crush”
In a shaker:
Muddle 3 - 4 chunks of watermelon
15ml Lime Juice
60ml Appleton Estate VX Rum
30ml Pineapple juice
3 - 4 Pieces of Frozen Grapefruit
Shake firmly and strain over crushed ice
Top up with Ginger Beer












"Mrs. Jones’s Breakfast”
In a shaker:
15ml Cazadores Blanco Tequila
15ml Elderflower Liqueur
30ml Aperol
15ml Grapefruit juice
15ml lemon juice
Rim short glass with white sugar
Shake and strain into the glass over ice

Last Night in Scotland... A Night out in Edinburgh

As we set off again, after having a relaxing night in Oban, it was time to finish our road trip and head back to Edinburgh. What an amazing few days we've had. We managed to cover lots of ground in such a short time. From the east coast of Scotland at St. Andrews, Up and over the highlands to Inverness, then down the west side to Oban and back across to Edinburgh. To celebrate the end of our road trip and also the end to our time in Scotland, we decided to head out and see what the Edinburgh night life had to offer. 

There was one cocktail bar which was on the top of my list to visit in Edinburgh, that was the "Bramble Bar”.  Bramble Bar has won many awards over the years. Australian Bartender Magazine listed Bramble in the top 20 bars in the world. It is also said to be the best bar to visit in Scotland. The menu at Bramble is extensive but without being too over-whelming. They offer a good mixture of classics, variations on classics as well as some of there own creations. I decided to order a cocktail called “Lazarus Lane”. This is a simple yet unique combination of Tapatio blanco tequila, blackberries, ginger extract, vanilla flavoured sugar and garnished with a sprig of rosemary. It’s served over one large cube of ice with is chiselled out of a huge ice block by the bartender. When sipping this drink, the smell of the rosemary hits you straight away. Then when tasted, the acidity of the blackberries works well with the sweetness of the vanilla and ginger extract. Then there is the tequila, which adds a whole other dimension to the drink. It’s a combination of simple ingredients, but they all compliment each other and work well together. Warning though... this drink is not for everyone. Cara took a sip of the “Lazarus Lane” and she did not like it at all.  It’s bitter taste did not go down to well, but I like it. It was different and had been well thought through. 

Recently Cara has been taking after my love of rum, and has started to often order rum based cocktails. Our visit to Bramble was no exception. She ordered a cocktail called a “Red Rum”. This consisted of (one of my favourite rums) Bacardi 8 year old, Plymouth Sloe Gin, fresh lemon juice, red currants and vanilla sugar syrup. This was definitely more to Cara’s liking. The sweetness of the vanilla sugar and dark rum blended well together with the flavours of the gin. This drink was not sour at all, so the lemon juice was simply there to bind all these flavours together. Out of the 2 cocktails, Cara’s “Red Rum” would certainly appeal to more people. 

After Bramble, We made our way to another near by cocktail bar, “Bon Viant”. A bar which has a great reputation as being one of the best in Edinburgh. As we walked in we could see why. The place was packed and with almost every person holding a cocktail. We found a small part of the bar to stand and ordered a lesser known classic drink, A “Millionaires Cocktail”. This classic first featured in Harry Cradock’s book from the 1930’s, “The Savoy Cocktail Book”. Since it was first published, it’s stood the test of time and has taken on many variations over the years. It consists of 25ml Sloe Gin, 25ml Apricot Brandy, 25ml Jamaican Rum, the juice of 1 lime, a dash of grenadine and a dash of egg white. Then shaken into a martini glass. Like most classics, It’s a well balanced cocktail which is easy for almost anyone to drink. It’s similar to an original daiquiri, with its rum and lime, but the added sloe gin and apricot brandy gives the drink more fruitiness.  The egg white gives the drink a unique texture. 

We headed to a few more bars in the near by area, before calling it a night. Our time in Scotland has been unforgettable and a night out in the trendy city of Edinburgh was the perfect way to finish. 

Bramble Bars, “Lazarus Lane”

In a Shaker:

Muddle Blackberries

45ml Tapatio Blanco Tequila

Dash of Ginger Extract

15ml Vanilla Sugar Syrup

Shake and Strain over ice into a short rocks glass

Garish with a Sprig of Rosemary

Bramble Bars, “Red Rum”

In a shaker:

Muddle Red Currents

30ml Bacardi 8 year old Rum

30ml Plymouth Sloe Gin

15ml Lemon Juice

15ml Vanilla Sugar Syrup

Shake and Strain into Martini Glass

Bon Viant Bar, “Millionaires Cocktail”

In a Shaker:

25ml Sloe Gin

25ml Apricot Brandy

25ml Jamaican Rum

The Juice of 1 Lime

Dash of Grenadine

Dash of egg white

Shake and Strain into Martini Glass

LAB Bar & The Soho District

Cara and I have now been living in London for close to a year. In that time we have seen some amazing things and have been to some awesome bars. One of our frequent watering holes is a cocktail bar in London’s west end called “LAB Bar”. LAB stands for the ‘London Academy of Bartending’. It was a bar designed to teach and hone the skills of bartenders who have a love and passion for bar work. This is why we love this place so much, it’s full of people who love good cocktails, just like us.

LAB Bar is located in Londons Soho district, a part of the nations capital which is famous for being the home to top bars, restaurants and entertainment. The Soho district is also known for it’s “non prejudice” attitude. A place in London where no one will judge you on your fashion, race, age, sexuality, etc.  Aside from LAB bar, there is a smorgasbord of cocktail bars to choose from in the area. All appealing to different demographics in Soho.

Soho has had a long and turbulent past. It’s reputation for being the home of sex and drugs is slowly changing into being the place for fashion and entertainment. Although the stigma is a hard one to shake. Having said that, bars and restaurants have no trouble filling their premises with party goers. On weekends, the local council closes off the streets to accommodate the thousands of people who flock to Soho every weekend.

LAB Bar is considered one of the best bars in Soho. It was founded in 1996 and was designed as a training school for passionate bartenders. At LAB, cocktails are not just drinks. They are works of art. The staff pride them self on presentation. Some of the garnishes used on these drinks are beyond comprehension. The fine knife work shown by the bartenders would give a michelin star chef a run for their money.  Once you get past the amazing garnishes, the cocktails themselves are perfectly balanced. The combination of flavours used in these drinks are well thought through not to mention unique.

Some of our favourite concoctions are the “Red Hot Chilli Pepper”, “Slap & Tickle”, “Rapaska” plus many more. Truth be known, you are hard pressed to find something on the menu that doesn’t sound amazing. The menu at LAB is like a bible of unique drinks. The problem is, that it’s too big.  It takes quite some time to go through the menu. It comes to a point where you are rushed into picking a cocktail at random.

Sometimes picking random cocktail is the best thing to do when you can’t make up your mind, and that is what we often have to do when we are at LAB.  Cara and I always enjoy our nights out in Soho. I’m sure we’ll spend many more nights in LAB before we leave London.

“Rapaska”

Shaken & Strained over Crushed Ice
 - 60ml Raspberry Vodka
 - 30ml Passionfruit Puree
 - 30ml Rasperry Puree
 - Dashes of Lime juice, Apple juice & Orange juice
Garnished with a granny smith apple fan

     

                              “Red Hot Chilli Pepper”

                     Stirred with Crushed Ice in a Tall Glass

                     - 60ml Lemongrass & Chilli infused Tequila

                     - 30ml Homemade Vanilla Sugar Syrup

                     - Topped with Ginger Beer

                       Floated on top:

                     - Goldschlager (Cinnamon Schnapps)

                     - Sparkling Wine

                    Garnished with Lemongrass & Chilli

     “Slap & Tickle"
  Shaken and Strained over cubed Ice
- 30ml Koko Kanu Coconut Rum
- 30ml Plymouth Sloe Gin
- 15ml Lime Juice
- 15ml Lemon Juice
- 15ml Mango Syrup
Garnished with lemon & lime rind, wrapped around a maraschino cherry.

The Japan Experience

All I can say at the moment is WOW!!!.... We could not have asked for a better start to our adventure than in Japan. For simple Adelaide folk, like me and Cara, we could not have had a bigger culture shock. Our travels take us to the city of Osaka. The main thing you notice when walking the streets of Osaka, is the people there love to eat. It seems like every place we pass, they were offering some kind of food. Being a foreigner you can't help but try everything. So far I've had things like pork tongue, fish eggs, fried octopus balls, chicken heart, plenty of sushi and there is sure to be much more. But the traditional meal of Osaka is Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is like a big pancake but filled with cabbage, shrimp, pork and almost anything else you can think of. It's smothered in BBQ sauce and topped off with shaved fish. Sounds interesting but we both loved it. We are always keen to get into the spirit of Japan and try all the exciting things they have to offer.

While we explore the city and eat the food, we need to wash it all down with some Japanese beers. Asahi is the local beer of Japan, but i also had the pleasure of trying Yebisu Beer, Kirin, Sapporo and the Suntory range of beers. All of these beers were nice and refreshing and definitely quenched the thirst, but i must admit they all possessed similar qualities. We are lucky in Australia to have such a wide variety of local and boutique beers. Most of the popular beers I've tried before but the Yebisu Beer was a new one for me, it was little different, not so much in flavour, but more in it's texture. It had a soft creamy head, similar to a Kilkenny. One beer that did take my fancy was one from the Sapporo range. It was a chocolate flavoured beer. I've heard of stout and chocolate working well together, but that is more when making a beer cocktail. This was a can of beer infused with Creme de Cacao. It was really nice but certainly the type of beer you couldn't drink for an entire night. Very sweet and a little heavy, like an ale. Definitely worth trying though.

Of course everyplace that we go we have to check out the local cocktail bars. My parents had done some research before our arrival and told us about a great little cocktail bar called "Absinthe Solaar" (I liked the name straight away). One thing I must add about Japan, is the service is exceptional and the people are so welcoming to foreigners. So when we arrived at 'Absinthe Solaar" we were welcomed with a smile and were seated in a prime position at the bar. After looking at the cocktail menu for several minutes, Cara was the most adventurous an ordered a tropical absinthe margarita.  This blended cocktail consisted of 30ml tequila, 30ml cointreau, a dash of absinthe, fresh mango, orange juice, pineapple juice and a dash of sugar syrup. Add ice to the blender and blend until smooth. Another dash of absinthe was washed around the glass before serving. When we took a sip of this, it was just the right combination of tequila and absinthe. The hint of absinthe was not to over powering but just enough to know that it's there.

So it's been a busy first few days in Japan, and we have not even begun to scratch the surface yet. There is still so much more to discover.

Absinthe's Solaar's
"Tropical Absinthe Margarita"
In a Blender add:
30ml Tequila
30ml Cointreau
Dash of Absinthe
Fresh Mango
Dash of Orange Juice
Dash of Pineapple Juice
Dash of Sugar Syrup
Add ice and Blend.
Rinse your glass with another dash of Absinthe
Serve and garnish with a sprig of mint

The Tequila Slammer Vs The Lick-Sip-Suck

OK.... So here's the thing. I thought it was about time i clarified to many people out there the difference between tequila slammers and lick-sip-sucks, because some people clearly don't know the difference.

It seems to happen time and time again, customers walk up to the bar and order tequila slammers not really knowing what they are. Now 10 times out of 10 i know exactly what they want, they want tequila shots with the lemon/lime and salt (a.k.a A lick-sip-suck).  So i thought it was about time i explained to people about the actual definition of a tequila slammer. The tequila slammer became popular in the mid 1980s in bars throughout Acapulco, Mexico. At the time it was the new craze in consuming shots.  It consists of a short glass with a shot of tequila and a generous dash of lemonade or ginger ale. Place your hand on top of the glass and slam the glass (trying not to break the glass of coarse) into the bar. This will cause the drink to fizz up. The aim is to now drink the mixture before it fizz's up and over flows. The tequila slammer has some cool variations too. One of my personal favourites is the "slammer royale", which is replacing the lemonade with champagne.  Get creative with your 'slammers'. It doesn't matter what you mix the tequila with, it just has to be a carbonated mixture.

Now, the lick-sip-suck is pretty self explanatory. I know there are going to be some readers out there who have done hundreds of these in their time, so this will be nothing new, but for the tequila amateurs out there, I'll explain it anyway. Believe it or not, the lick-sip-suck was not created in Mexico as many people think. When Mexico began exporting tequila to the rest of the world, the lick-sip-suck was a way for the rest of the world to shot tequila. We start by, licking some salt off the back of your hand, taking the shot, then sucking on a slice of lemon or lime. The idea being that the salt cleanses the palette at the start, you take the shot of tequila and then sucking on the lemon gets rid of the awful taste for those people who can't handle tequila.  I can always tell the true tequila lovers out there, they always do the shot straight up, no salt, no lemon or lime.

Both of these shots are great social drinks. I've mentioned before in my post on the margarita, no matter whether you like tequila or not, people still continue to order (or get peer pressured into ordering) this Mexican spirit and proceed to either slam or lick and sip and suck. It seems no night is complete with out a shot of tequila.   Have Fun !!!!!

"The Tequila Slammer"

Lick the Salt... Take the Shot... Suck the Lime/ Lemon

The Long Island Iced Tea

I personally am not a big fan of the Long island iced tea. I believe that it's a cocktail that people have with the aim to get drunk. People don't order this drink to appreciate the fine qualities of the spirits used in this drink, they order it to get "smashed". Despite my own personal dislike for this cocktail, it's hard to turn my back on it. It is one of the most frequently ordered cocktails in the world. It has played a massive role in bar culture today. So it would be wrong of me to not feature it in one of my blog postings.

The long island iced tea is a simple built cocktail which consists of 15ml vodka, gin, white rum, tequila and cointreau (or triple sec), a dash of lemon juice, served over ice and topped up with coke.  As i mentioned earlier, even though i'm not a big lover of this classic cocktail, as a bartender, I feel it is important to appreciate it's origins. The first long island iced tea was said to be served by Robert Butts in the mid 1970s. Butts was a bartender who worked at the Oak Beach Inn in the town of Babylon, Long Island, New York. He came up with the idea of mixing 5 different white spirits with coke. The cocktail had instant success and the not long after the variations began such as, a Tokyo iced tea made with Midori in place of the vodka, or a Cuban iced tea, made with dark rum, as well as white rum.

To make this cocktail, it is extremely simple. Get yourself a tall glass, and pour 15ml vodka, gin, tequila, white rum and cointreau and lemon juice. Lastly add ice and top with coke. And thats it!

Have fun with this drink and have a go at creating your own "Iced tea" variation.

In a Tall Glass:
15ml Vodka
15ml Gin
15ml Tequila
15ml Cointreau
15ml White Rum
15ml Lemon Juice
Add Ice and top up with Coke

The Margarita: Tequila is so misunderstood

Tequila glorious tequila!!!  This Mexican icon is sometimes so misunderstood.  People all the time tell me how disgusting they think it is, yet they still get peer pressured into licking some salt, taking a shot then sucking on some lemon. I think almost everyone out there has a tragic tequila story.  No doubt there is some cheap shonky tequila out there, which i would not wish upon anyone, but there also some a lot of great ones, which are used in many amazing cocktails. The greatest tequila cocktail of them all, the margarita.

Now i know what your going to ask, "What makes a great tequila?", "Which tequila's are good and which are bad?. To be honest, that's completely up to you. You're the best judge. I have my personal favourites (Patron, Herradura, 1800) but everyones taste buds are different.  The argument of which tequila should be used in a margarita could go on for hours,  but for this exercise, I'm going for the 1800 Anejo. Anejo refers to how long the tequila has been aged for. Anejo means the tequila has been aged for over 12 months. Which i think works well in a margarita. It's give the drink a nice smokey flavour. You can also get 'extra anejo', which is tequila that is aged longer than 3 years. You may also hear the terms "blanco" and "reposado" which means aged less than 2 months for blanco, and between 2 - 12 months for reposado.

Getting back to the margarita... There are so many different stories on how this cocktail came about. We know that it was some time during the 1930s. One tale about the margarita is that it was invented by bartender, Pancho Morales at Tommy's Bar in Juarez, Mexico. A customer asked Pancho for a "Magnolia". He couldn't remember the ingredients for a magnolia except cointreau. So he improvised by adding tequila and lime juice along with the cointreau.

So in a shaker, we begin with 45ml 1800 anejo tequila. Followed by 15ml of Cointreau and lastly 30ml of lime juice. Add ice and shake. There are 2 common ways of serving. Strained into an margarita glass (which is similar to a martini glass) or serve over ice in a short glass. How ever you decide to serve the margarita, before you do, it's tradition to serve it with a salted rim around the glass. Salt is often associated with tequila because it is said to mask the bitterness of the tequila. I believe that the salt can sometimes enhance the drink. It brings together the 3 ingredients nicely. Now days the salt rim is optional. Pour or strain the contents of your shaker in to your glass and enjoy.

Tequila is not as bad as many people make out, and a great margarita can prove that. Have fun!!!

In a shaker:
45ml Tequila
15ml Cointreau
30ml Lime juice
Add ice and shake,
rim glass with salt and strain contents of your shaker.